Domain name history of ownership is really what it says, it is the tracking of ownership of who owns or owned a specific domain name. Domain history are the records archived based on "record changes" like DNS updates by the owner, change of ownership of the domain name and if somebody simply performs a whois look-up for a specific domain name for an example.

DomainTools.com has the most extensive database of domain history of ownership as they have been tracking data back to 1995 based on what is stated on there site. They are the only site that has done this for that long. Although it is stated they have tracked from 1995, I think 2001 is the most common date I often see records dating back to.

To access the domain name history for a specific domain name, you must have a DomainTools.com account (paid service) and have at least have a "silver membership", which is a cost of $29.95 per month or $299 per year. The expert account is $49.95 per month or $499.95 per year. DomainTools has also recently launched an API.

With a Silver Membership, you get more than just domain name history look-ups. You can see things like Name Server history, IP history, Reverse IP, domain monitoring and more. You can learn more about the DomainTools.com Memberships there and what you all get.

There are a couple different ways to access the domain name history of ownership. You can simply do a whois search using DomainTools Whois. If you are signed in and have at least a silver membership, all you need to do is simply click the link next to Whois History like pictured below highlighted in yellow.

The second way is to access the whois history page directly is using the URL string at http://www.domaintools.com/research/whois-history/ . Not every domain name will have whois history, but the majority of registered domain names do. Even if a domain name was registered before and currently is available, it can have domain name history of ownership records.

Why is the history of domain name ownership important or why would somebody look for it?

Stolen Domain! If somebody is trying to sell you a domain name "Quickly" and it seems to good to be true, I would be checking whois history and look for any recent changes. This is normally as small as the email address changing but can be something as big as a registrar change. It doesn’t hurt to call the past owner to make sure they are selling the domain!

Legal Services. If the domain name in question may contain trademarked terms, a lawyer may want to see who has owned the domain name, for how long etc.

Current Privacy: Domain name privacy services are available to "hide" the owners contact information. Many domain names are registered and privacy is added "later". Many times a whois history record is created before going private.

There are likely endless reasons why somebody may want to check domain name whois history. I have used it simply to see if I owned a specific domain name that I couldn’t remember if I did. I often use it to see if a domain name may have been sold. Using whois history and comparing it with "current" records often tips me off if a domain name has sold.

Information provided for domain name history of ownership includes:

• Total Amount of Records ~ different for each domain
• Domain Name
• Domain Registrar
• Domain Registrant (owner) which should include Name, mailing address, email address, phone number
• Admin, Billing, Technical Contacts
• DNS (domain name server at time of the record creation)
• Record creation date (domains current registration date)
• Database last update date
• Domains expire date

What is the poorman’s way of doing a whois "history" style search? I find using the registrant’s email address with quotes if you are aware of it in a search engine. You can also try a persons name or address in quotes at Google as well. You can also try the search string: site:domaintools.com "email address" . I use this from time to time to try and find out "other" domain names a specific person owns. DomainTools offer this service called Registrant Search or Email Search and will deliver a report to you, but you have to have a Donald Trump kind of salary to be able to afford these kind of reports. They are extremely pricey. I hope this helps explain how you can find domain name history of ownership and why one may want to see the data and some uses for it.